Toby Keith`s “Red Solo Cup”

By Faith Parker
Recently, country music singer Toby Keith has cut a song that will soon become the anthem for college students worldwide. Keith has released the song “Red Solo Cup” as the second single off of his new album titled Clancy’s Tavern which was released on Tuesday, October 25th.  His first single from this new album, “Made in America” has already become a No.1 hit.
As soon as the music video for “Red Solo Cup” was released on you tube it went viral. It was released on October 10th and within a week it had well over a half a million hits. People love how ridiculous this song is. On a radio interview with XM’s “The Highway,” Keith admitted that this song was stupid and not meant to be judged for its lyrical content. It is just meant to be a fun anthem for people that party with a red Solo cup in their hand (which is probably just about the entire college population).  The song’s chorus states, “Red solo cup, I fill you up, let’s have a party!” Other lyrics are meant to be purely ridiculous and create the image of the crazy things that happen when people start drinking.
The music video itself depicts Keith walking through a college house party and viewers see all of the different uses that college students find for red Solo cups. The video is shot using no fancy editing; it is simply a guy with a video camera following Keith through a house party as he sings. In the first line of the song Keith sings, “Now red Solo cup is the best receptacle for BBQ’s, tailgates, fairs, and festivals.” You then see red cups everywhere, used for stacking, drinking games, and by famous celebrities like Carrot Top. The video is funny and easily relatable for college students.
The song was originally created as a challenge by a friend of the band that said they could write a number one hit about anything. Keith challenged them to prove it by writing a song about a red Solo cup.  Within the next few weeks we will be able to see who the winner of this little bet is.  If you haven’t heard this song yet, you need to check it out.